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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27705820">Lunam Absconsa</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/chipsNdeSalsa/pseuds/chipsNdeSalsa'>chipsNdeSalsa</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Family, Friendship, Isolation, Loss, Mystery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:28:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,249</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27705820</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/chipsNdeSalsa/pseuds/chipsNdeSalsa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At 15, Teddy Lupin is slowly piecing together his father's monthly absences. Meanwhile, Remus investigates the links between the disappearance of nearly 100 children across mainland Europe and a rapidly growing werewolf clan. Note: This story is an AU where Remus survived the Battle of Hogwarts. Also, due to the lack of canon, OCs abound. Within reason.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Teddy Lupin/Victoire Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue: Together We Walked</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Are you sure you've got it all?"</p><p>"Yes, I'm fine, da…"</p><p>"Let me see your bag and make sure I packed…"</p><p>"I've got the potion, Dad. You already checked three…"</p><p>"Teddy, I just want to make sure the Potters don't…"</p><p>"Then stop handing me off every month, " Teddy muttered to the ground.</p><p>Teddy Lupin stared at his barely visible shadow on the first step outside 12 Grimmuald Place. His father tugged on the bag hanging loose on his shoulders but Teddy shrugged away. Remus knelt to pick up his son's chin and pleaded, "Will you at least hug me before I go, Ted?"</p><p>Teddy fidgeted for a moment, still unwilling to look his father in the eye. He thought he'd be used to being dropped off at the Potters by now, since it has happened once every month since he could remember. But this time he couldn't forgive him. He wouldn't. Not today. Not when tomorrow was so important.</p><p>Without meaning to, Teddy felt his hands clam up. But not figuratively. Opening his eyes and blinking through the slow fall of tears, Teddy saw a few of his fingers midway through changing into slimy, tongue-like appendage and it made him cry even more. Remus grabbed his son's hands and held them tight as he guided with his eyes closed, "The sea waxes and wanes. Back. And forth. Back. And forth."</p><p>Teddy silently cried as he closed his eyes and joined his father, reciting their meditative mantra over and over again. After a minute or so of repetition, Teddy felt his fingers go back to normal and his father's grip loosen as he wiped away the tear's on the left side of his son's face. Raising Teddy's chin up again to meet his eyes, Remus looked deep into them, the same baby blue as the boy's mother, and consoled, "It won't be as long this time, I promise. We'll both be back at the cottage by Friday. The timing this time just… I wish it didn't have to be this way, Ted. I'm so…"</p><p>At that moment, the front door to 12 Grimmuald Place burst open and a young boy with an already wild mop of black hair and hazel eyes ran out and tripped into hugging Teddy from behind, screeching, "Tee-dee, you back. I miss you soooo much!" Teddy smiled, wiped away the tears on the other side of his face, and said as he turned around, returning the toddler's hug, "It's only been a month, James-y. How'd you even…"</p><p>The sound of another person crashing in the entryway of the house interrupted Teddy once again and a man with equally mopped black hair as his son nursed his ribs as he came out of the house and greeted them, "Ah, geeze, James. We've only just put the door back on since… Oh."</p><p>The man pulled up the sleeves of his light blue button down to look at his watch and looked back at Remus and Teddy Lupin before apologizing as he picked up his son, who held tight Teddy until he lost his grip, "Sorry about that, Remus. I forgot it was time again. Good news and bad news, I suppose. Good news is little James isn't a squib, though we'd obviously love him the same if he was. Ginny'd have my head otherwise. Bad news is he's a bit destructive. Took down the front door just last week and I had to have the obliviators come here to zap the neighbors again. And here he is…"</p><p>Remus surveyed either side of the dimly lit, empty street of Grimmuald Place before saying, "Look's like his namesake came true. Should've named him after Kingsley like I said." With a laugh, Remus continued, "Sorry for not calling ahead this time, Harry. I thought Dora's mother would take him this time since you did last time, but she's still ill. And the timing this time…"</p><p>Harry James Potter looked down at his watch again and sighed, pushed up his glasses, and said, "You're sure you can't come? I mean, it doesn't happen until…"</p><p>Harry stopped immediately as Remus's face went stern and the latter asserted, "Not this time. You know what happens when I prepare too late. That poor shack is barely even standing after…"</p><p>Harry held up his hand and relented, "Don't remind me. The paperwork alone still gives me nightmares. Come in, before you catch whatever Andromeda has."</p><p>Remus resumed smiling as Harry led him and Teddy inside 12 Grimmuald Place and out of the humid, cloudy night. Taking off and hanging his and his son's coats on a nearby rack, Remus loosened his burgundy scarf and asked as he sat down on a couch just beyond the long dining room table, "Mind if I stay for a cup, Harry? Do you still have the leaves Ginny brought back from Sri Lanka? Those were delightful."</p><p>Harry smiled and replied as he strapped young James Sirius Potter into a bouncing chair next to a tall crib where another baby lay fast asleep, "Of course. I can cook something up to if you like' to st…"</p><p>Remus interrupted, "As tempted and hungry as I am, best not to stay for dinner. Teddy…" He looked to his young son, patted him on the shoulder twice, and said, "Best go put down you things. I'll come tuck you in a minute."</p><p>Teddy Lupin sullenly nodded and obeyed as he picked back up his backpack and made the slow climb to the landing on the second floor of the house. After putting his bag in his room, which remained the same since he left it the previous month, he went back out and closed loudly closed the door behind him. Teddy then tiptoed away from his room and out to the railing of the second floor landing to watch and listen to his father and godfather on the first.</p><p>Harry took out his long Holly wand and wordlessly magicked the clear kettle, small container of black leaves, and nearby sink to life, the last of which seemed to defy gravity as the water streaming out of it came out, looped up, and then back down into the self-heating kettle now in Harry's right hand. Carrying two cups in his other hand, he sat on the opposite couch, poured both of them a cup, and set the kettle aside as he inquired, "So, how're things on your end? Any luck finding his other spawn?"</p><p>Remus took a long sip of the hot tea and responded as he set his cup back on the table between them, "No such luck, I'm afraid. As we've already briefed your end, the vacuum left by Greyback's imprisonment is worse than we thought. The packs in Germany and France are getting restless and reckless. There's no hope for the one in Ukraine; we'll have to take them in. And soon."</p><p>Harry swirled his tea a couple times and sipped at it before continuing "What's tipped them over? Didn't Hermione say we replaced their alpha a few months ago?"</p><p>Remus sat up a little as he answered, "That didn't turn out well, as I warned it wouldn't, if you remember. They killed him off within a fortnight and now someone worse than Sorokin leads them. And now they're growing too."</p><p>Harry set down his cup and said, "That wasn't in our briefing this morning… What do you know that we don't, Remus."</p><p>Teddy leaned away from the railing just in time as Remus looked up to the second floor and then back to Harry as he whispered just loud enough for Teddy to hear, "Baranova, their new alpha, she's brutal. Makes Greyback look like a golden doodle. We're still working on her dossier, but if my numbers are right, she's already created 11 more in just the last 2 months. Not adults either. She likes children, Baranova."</p><p>Harry leaned back and took a long sip of his tea and inquired as the kettle levitated to refill his cup, "Mind if I take this to Hermione? She could use a win."</p><p>Remus quickly replied in a whisper, "As long as the Head doesn't know my involvement, yes. Kingsley can only keep me a secret for so long. That poor shack…"</p><p>Harry winced and chuckled into his tea, "Oh, it wasn't that bad, Remus. You only took…" Unfortunately for Teddy, he leaned too hard into one of the landing's balusters and it creaked against his weight.</p><p>Both Remus and Harry's eyes shot to Teddy's face poking through the gap between balusters, and Remus said, "Remember what we talked about, Ted? About your godfather and I's work?"</p><p>Teddy slowly squeezed his head back out and mumbled as he stood up, "That I'll know when I can grow a beard like Uncle Ron."</p><p>Harry chuckled as he finished his tea and set it back down on the table, "Hopefully better. I don't see why Hermione's letting him keep going. It has more patches than your old robes, Remus."</p><p>Remus laughed and said as he took his last sip of tea, "Oh, it's gotten that bad now? Poor girl. Nothing's worse for a marriage than bad facial hair, take my word for it. Anyway, I best get back to the cottage. Charlie's on watch tonight."</p><p>Harry laughed again and said, "I'm sure he's glad. Corralling you is a sight better than the dragons he babysits. If the potion doesn't feel potent enough, send a message and someone in the Order will come help."</p><p>Remus got up, straightened tightened his scarf, and held out his hand as he japed, "I won't tell Hermione you said that."</p><p>Harry smiled and retorted as he shook Remus's hand and walked him to the stairs while Teddy scurried away from the edge of the landing and back into his room, "Best not, yeah. She was much easier to please when she was just my friend and not my boss. I mean it though. As funny as the cleanup was, I don't want another December."</p><p>Remus's face went grim and his grip on the staircase's railing tightened for a moment before he affirmed while taking his first steps up, "That's my line."</p><p>Teddy quickly took off his clothes and put one his striped pajamas as he heard his father slowly climb the stairs to the second floor. He recognized the slight dragging limp of the man's left foot across the creaky wooden floor until it stopped just outside the bedroom door. Doing his best to pretend he was asleep with the blanket over his shoulders and his back to the door, Teddy couldn't help but giggle when he heard his father attempt to change his voice to be more scratchy and devilish, "What's that, my sweet? Oh, indeed…" His father sniffed and sighed deep before continuing, "Oh, yes. The scent of a boy… But not just any boy. A boy who is up past his bedtime. A sneaky little boy with his nose between the balusters. Oh, the taste of his skin… and bones… and his heart. Oh his heart, so corrupt to stay up after bedtime… Yes, his heart will be most scrumptious. Shall we open and see?"</p><p>The door to Teddy's makeshift but now permanent room in the Potter's house on Grimmuald Place creaked open and Remus Lupin stood in its threshold with his coat pulled up over his head and his arms bent up and his hands bent down. Teddy giggled even more as his father grumbled and growled as he stepped forward. The wood floor creaked and Remus continued from beneath his coat, "Maybe the boy sleeps. An easy, feast-y treat his feet shall be. If these creaks break not his sleep, his little toes again, he will not see."</p><p>But then the creaking stopped. Teddy couldn't hear his father's slow breaths anymore. He couldn't hear the crackling, rustling sound of his father's coat. Or the lagging left foot. Teddy slowly raised his head and with the blanket wrapped over his head, he looked around the room and found he was alone. Teddy's heart raced as he slowly panned left to right. Right to left. Left to right. Right as he panned left once more his father jumped out from next to his bed and Teddy screamed as Remus started making grumbly eating sounds as he tickled Teddy in his stomach and toes: his most ticklish spots. As Teddy began to wheeze from laughing and giggling so hard, the lights in the room flashed on and off until Remus stopped and sat on his son's bed and said as his ran his hand through Teddy's hair, "And now we know black hair means you're scared. Sorry for the misdirect, Ted. You were getting too good at hearing my steps."</p><p>Teddy sat up and smoothed his hair back down, watching it change back to the normal dirty blonde he liked it as, and mumbled, "Why can't you come tomorrow, Dad? You said we would go every year and now you can't."</p><p>Remus slumped a little as he sighed and answered just above a whisper, "My… My job with the Ministry… Look, Ted, when you're…"</p><p>Teddy interrupted beneath his breath, "But that's too long."</p><p>Remus placed a reassuring hand on his son's calf and affirmed, "You'll know soon enough, if my genes have their say. I had a mustache in my third year at Hogwarts. And Ted?" Teddy looked up with his mouth crimped to one side and nodded. Remus rubbed Teddy's chin and jested with a smirk, "Don't you dare cheat. If I see you with a full Norse beard before you're 15, I'll extend it until you're married. I'll know. Your mother tried fooling me with a goatee once and I saw right through it. Now, close those eyes and I'll be back before you know it."</p><p>Teddy nodded once more, hugged his father while the latter kissed his forehead, and with a soft pop, his father vanished from the room. This time for good.</p><p>Edward Remus Lupin, known by all attending as Teddy or Ted, stood, his hands deep in the pockets of his overcoat, on the periphery of the gathering on the Hogwarts Lawn as his godfather took the dais to speak. Teddy didn't want to look up. Looking up meant seeing the monolith. And seeing the monolith meant not being able to control his body as his emotions ran wild. It happened every year he could remember. Even when his father was there to hold his hands. Which he wasn't this year, for reasons Teddy still couldn't hope to understand.</p><p>As he stood there, fidgeting with a piece of loose stitching inside the right pocket of his slightly worn, black peacoat, Teddy did everything he could to not look up. To not look up and to keep repeating the phrase. The phrase he and his father came up with on the beach outside their small cottage. "Like the waves and the tides reaching across the sand, let your breath flow. Even. And Calm Back. And Forth. Back. And Forth. Even. And calm,"his father Remus would always say. But standing here, as he did every year, Teddy's breaths were not like the calm tide outside their cottage. They were neither even nor calm. They came more like sporadic sprays against the rocks at the bottom of the nearby cliffs. Nothing for a time and then all at once. He hoped no one noticed. If they did, Teddy was glad they kept his secret.</p><p>As Teddy did his best to repeat the mantra over and over, hoping for even a moment of calm in his maelstrom of emotions and his a silence to his thundering heartbeat, his godfather, Harry James Potter, began to speak to the murmuring crowd, who silenced at once.</p><p>"9 times we have gathered here. On the anniversary of the worst battle of our generation. Of the deaths of those who fought for the future of the wizarding world, regardless of blood-status or magical ability. Deaths that haunt me with every moment. With every step. With every breath I take, I carry with me the memory of those who died in the Second Wizarding War. Fred's wry smile when he told me about his and George's newest addition to their shop. Alastor Moody grunting and grumbling about being on time when he came to take me away from the Dursley's."</p><p>Teddy heard Harry chuckle to himself before continuing, "I didn't understand it until it happened to me, but the love shining like the sun from Lavender Brown's face whenever she saw my best friend, even when he couldn't reciprocate. Tonks and my godfather laughing at the one Christmas dinner I had with him when she turned her nose into a snout."</p><p>Teddy's heart did something far worse than thundering, it sunk so far he could no longer feel it. "Even and calm. Back… Forth," he muttered to himself for nearly a minute, drowning out his godfather's speech. But his voice wasn't the only he heard. From an unknown source came a whisper in his ear. Though its wispy pitch and tone confused him, he thought he heard his father say, "That's it, Ted. Even. Calm. In. Out. Back. And Forth. You're doing fine." Teddy Lupin spun around in excitement, expecting to find his father kneeing behind him like he always did when he came home from work or to pick him up. But his heart sunk again when he found nothing but the empty field behind him and the ominous trees of the Forbidden Forest that somehow waved on a windless day. The voice said again, "Again, Ted. Even and Calm. In and Out. Back. And forth."</p><p>And as Teddy turned back around to pay attention to the last part of his godfather's speech, he obeyed. His breath evened out while his mind repeated his and his father's mantra. And the hand of the girl sitting in her chair next to him grabbed his as she looked up with striking blue eyes. He tightened his grip on Victoire Weasley's small hand as she slid off her chair to stand and they, and everyone else assembled to pay their respects to the fallen, joined Harry James Potter in the nine-year tradition of ending the ceremony. With each name recited, those with wands cast white sparks into the air.</p><p>"Bathilda Bagshot."</p><p>"Sirius Black."</p><p>"Broderick Bode."</p><p>"Amelia Bones."</p><p>"Lavender Brown."</p><p>"Charity Burbage."</p><p>"Colin Creevey."</p><p>"Dirk Cresswell."</p><p>"Cedric Diggory."</p><p>"Dobby the Free Elf."</p><p>"Albus Dumbledore."</p><p>"Florean Fortescue."</p><p>"Gornuk."</p><p>"Bertha Jorkins."</p><p>"Alastor Moody."</p><p>"Ricbert."</p><p>"Rufus Scrimgeor."</p><p>"Severus Snape."</p><p>"Edward Tonks."</p><p>"Nymphadora Tonks." Victoire clutched Teddy's hand tighter for a moment before everyone called the next name.</p><p>"Emmeline Vance."</p><p>"Fred Weasley."</p><p>As everyone lowered their wands and raised their heads, Harry remained with his raised and concluded, "And to the fallen without names, to those without magic who stood no chance of defending themselves, and to those still recovering from their fight, we owe a debt for all time," and sent up the largest sparks of all, in the shape of a souring phoenix.</p><p>As Teddy stood on the Hogwarts Lawn on the ninth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, tears slowly cascading down his cheek, he mumbled, "I love you, mom. See you soon."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. To an Expanded Threshold</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Even," the scruffy father breathed in, slowly outlining small circles in the damp sand beside him.</p><p>"Calm," the grey-haired son breathed out, his eyes lightly shut against the slowly rising sun a horizon away.</p><p>"In."</p><p>"Out."</p><p>"Back…"</p><p>"And forth."</p><p>In time with the steady tide of the beach they sat upon, father and son meditated their worries, their fears, their shared past, away. The father dreamt of a cloudy, moonless night. Of the freedom to sleep in peace.</p><p>The son dreamt of seeing again the one thing of his mother's he remembered: her eyes. A boy with the ability to become anything, or anyone, he clung to them with desperate hands. An old haunt he gladly embraced, no matter the face he chose.</p><p>The two continued, guided by the ebb and flow of the ocean just outside their home, until a sweet smell, and a sweeter voice with a slight French accent the younger knew well interrupted his thoughts, "It's time, Ted."</p><p>The boy ran his hand through his purposely grey undercut, turned to the voice and beamed, "Hey, Vee."</p><p>"Nice beard. Are you cosplaying as Professor Dumbledore today?" the girl jested with a callused yet soft hand reaching down to him.</p><p>The father, his eyes still lightly shut and his breath still even with the tide, smirked and inquired, "Am I to understand my son is attempting to cheat, once again, Victoire?"</p><p>Not breaking his soft eye contact with the girl, Teddy rolled his eyes and took her invitation with a heave upward. Wiping away the long, equally aged beard from his face in a single stroke, the boy japed in the voice of an old man, "Nonsense, my boy. Your son is the picture of perfection. The most chivalrous of champions. A fortuitous force, fearlessly fighting foes and fiends alike. Truly, ter…"</p><p>Victoire Weasley giggled and the father chuckled as he rose from the sand, "Best stop with three, Ted. Would you mind, Victoire?" gesturing to the sand covering his rolled up blue-jeans."</p><p>Smiling through the blonde hair flapping in her face, Victoire replied while taking out her long, red cedar wand from her black trousers, "My pleasure, Remus. Scourgify."</p><p>Remus Lupin's pants billowed for a moment in the opposite direction of the wind and after looking down to see them good as new, he smiled as he looked back up, "Cheers. All packed in the car?"</p><p>Victoire, who took her turn to watch the sun slowly rise across the vast ocean, responded, "Oui, Maman is taking us today. Papa left late last night for Cairo."</p><p>Magically summoning his walking stick to his right hand, Remus smiled and retorted, "Wonderful. Best not keep her waiting, then." and led them off the sandy beach towards the lone paved road. Just as Teddy inched closer to Victoire and tapped her left hand his with his right pinky as they followed, Remus warned with a thunderous tap of his cane in the sand, "Hands in pockets son, lest her father conveniently chuck the both of us in with Merasankh." Teddy muttered a curse under his breath but obeyed, not seeing the slight reddening of Victoire's cheeks as she walked next to him. Just visible over a small dune between them and the road, a tall, beautiful, platinum blonde woman leaned against the rear tire-mount of a silver, open-top Jeep Wrangler. Victoire ran the rest of the way and hopped into the doorless back seat and waited while her mother, Fleur Weasley, greeted both Remus and Teddy with two pecks each on the cheek and they began their long journey to King's Cross Station.</p><p>Fleur silently drove along the mixed dirt and paved path from Cornwall to London, taking short glances at the lightly snoring Remus propped against his folded up jacket. Both Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley leaned against each other in the backseat and silently read books they bought from Flourish and Blotts a few days prior: Victoire's Magical Rhetoric: Sorcery and Socrates and Teddy's The Practical Potioneer: The the 20th Century. Teddy giggled when he came across yet another column by Greta Catchlove, "Vee, listen to this. Hey…"</p><p>Teddy nudged an engrossed Victoire with his shoulder and she put up a finger and mumbled, "Just a sec… Ok, shoot."</p><p>Teddy smiled as he saw her eyes meet his and, leaning a little further in to show her the colorful pictures, read aloud, "I don't know why they gave her the time of day, but I found another article by Catchlove. You' gotta…"</p><p>Fleur sat up a little to see the two and smiled a little as she piped in, "Don't discount her too much now, mon chou. She eez beloved back home. Especially Beauxbatons, saved me plusieurs fois."</p><p>Ted sighed and continued, "En tout cas, I've seen her in here a few times and none of them seem believable. How many possible applications for cheese in potions could their be? She's batty! Écoute ça, mesdames, 'When applied topically to the affected area, my newest potion can cure mild to aggressive dryness of the skin. Be it magically originated or not!' She's barmy… Mold from the cheese! I've seen better methods from…"</p><p>Teddy nearly jumped out of his seat as his father grumbled, "She was only two years ahead of the muggles, Ted."</p><p>Teddy cocked his head and asked, "What do you mean? You can't mean…"</p><p>Remus sat up, stretching his arms out through the roofless Jeep, and yawned, "Aaaah… Yeah. Not the same fungus… Not even found in the same means… But muggles discovered one in a process not unlike ours that does even more. She may have an odd source for her potions, Ted, but don't that doesn't discount her discoveries. Nor her contribution to the field."</p><p>Teddy slouched a little and muttered, "Yes, father," and went back to reading silently.</p><p>After another hour of mutual silence, Fleur smiled and asked, "Where are zey sending you zis time, Remus?"</p><p>Remus smirked and sat up, adjusting his seatbelt to give some feeling back in his good leg, "Quelle surprise. How does a banker know the workings of the Ministry?"</p><p>Fleur responded immediately, "You do not work for ze Ministry anymore, mon loup. Your… em… Task force? Yes, zey have an account viz us." As Remus looked back at the two, now sleeping teenagers in the back row of the Jeep, Fleur jested, "I could recognize ze snores of mon doux amongst a storm. I vould not ask uzzerwise. You have no need to worry. Aside from zose already involved, I am ze only one in ze Order who knows. Not even mon amour…"</p><p>Remus slouched back and noted, "I'm glad they have you on our accounts then. You've proven a valuable ally for the order, Fleur. And now to our cause. However, I cannot tell you where they are sending me. The ICW doesn't operate in the same sphere of the public as the Aurors. Though I miss those simple times. Fleur…"</p><p>Fleur took one hand from the wheel and gently, momentarily, grasped Remus's shaking right hand and reassured, "He vill alvays have a home vis us, mon loup. But don't be reckless. He has lost enough, n'est-ce pas?"</p><p>Remus, patting her hand lightly before crossing his arms and shoving his head back to his makeshift pillow, mumbled, "Ear akhudh maeia…"</p><p>When Fleur finally made it to King's Cross Station, the sound of the bustling city of London waking everyone else, Victoire and Teddy removed their trunks and they made their way towards the platforms. As soon as they took their first step off the escalator down to platform 9, a cheery male voice asked, "Takin' a clue from old Made-Eye now, professor?"</p><p>Remus and Teddy both turned and smiled as they saw the gangly, red-haired owner of their favorite joke-shop Wearing a finely-tailored, highlighter pink suit with black velvet in-lay and a black tie, George Weasley let go of his wife's hand and approached with a wide, cheeky smile. Remus limped forward and they hugged tight for a moment before Remus lifted up his walnut cane and japed, "It's a sight better than having hide my wand in my jacket on the job. I don't think anyone pays any mind to an old man's cane, not even with muggle security as it is. Did something happen recently?"</p><p>George answered as he retook Angelina Johnson's hand and their children, Roxanne and Fred greeted both Teddy and Victoire, "Something back in April I think. Saw it on a telly when me and Dung were…Well… Let's just say I needed a man and Dung knew him. Anyway, something about Operation Pits… or something like that. Lucky I've got this or they'd probably give me chains too," holding up an eloquent leather briefcase with an inconspicuous switch just in reach of his finger from the handle.</p><p>Remus nodded and held up his own, a tattered and flaking tan case with a latch missing, "It's getting harder to hide. Even with all of… this." Remus pointed with the handle of his cane to a passing boy and his parents, all of which were consumed by whatever their cellphones showed. "If not for the cameras, I could jinx the lot and they wouldn't be the wiser. A shame. Shall we get going? I've a flight to catch soon."</p><p>As they turned towards their destination, Angelina added, "Still don't know how muggles do it. Even the Knight Bus is safer than those things."</p><p>After watching their children run through the wall to Platform 9 and 3/4, George and Angelina said their goodbyes and Remus kneeled down to Teddy, who was gripping the handle of his trolley tight. Just above a whisper, Remus said, "It might be a while before I can write this time, Ted. But I'll definitely see you at Christmas with the Weasleys. If anything happens, write to the Potters or Hermione. They'll know how to reach me. I love you, Ted."</p><p>Teddy nodded and one arm hugged Remus, "I love you too, father… Bye then." Remus hugged his son for a little longer before letting go and joining Fleur as she too let go of her daughter.</p><p>After watching their children step through the wall and onto the magically hidden platform to the Hogwarts Express, Remus said as he turned and leaned on his cane, "20 Galleons says it won't be more than a year," and disappeared with a small pop unheard amongst the crowd.</p><p> </p><p>"Pass me the ground horn please, Rhys… Rhys?"</p><p>Teddy Lupin lifted the hinged loupe above his eyebrow and looked behind him at the Ravenclaw boy laying upside down on a cushion, his head covered by a tome the size of his head. Without peering around it, the boy took his long, alder wand out of his robes, flicked it without a word, and as a stoppered vial floated into Teddy's outstretched hand said, "I need my eyes for the match tomorrow, so you'll have to find a first year to test it on this time."</p><p>Over a steaming cauldron, Ted responded, "Was it so bad last time? Besides, I've got the right book this time. What's new with Prickett?"</p><p>Rhys sighed as he closed the tome and sat upright, readjusting his robes and curly black hair, "I smell a conspiracy, Ted. And no, this one isn't like the rumor that liar of a portrait Stump told me about the match between Piles and Oapley. Waste of a Christmas break, that was. No… Three different books mention her name in a citation. One more tells me she left Hogwarts with top marks to join the ministry. And yet, four employee registries and a half dozen auror reports from the day and not one mention. I. Smell. Lies. And you know I…"</p><p>Teddy interrupted him as he stirred in the ground unicorn horn, sighing happily when he sees his experiment's color turn a luminous turquoise, "I keep telling you, she was probably part for the schism in the Department of Mysteries. I heard…"</p><p>Rhys, dropping his tome and walking over to a nearby bookshelf, rebutted, "Nevermind what the minister said to the Potters! I know I'm onto something here. I just need to… Here we go, maybe she'll be in here. Thanks, Room. What're you trying out this time, Ted?"</p><p>Teddy continued adding ingredients until he hastily put on dragon-hide gloves and raised his wand, "You'll see in a second. Slughorn will either put me in detention for the remainder of the semester or get me published before dinner. It all depends on this… Wingardium Leviosa." Teddy took a few steps back as he concentrated on levitating a small pouch up and over to his bubbling cauldron. Grabbing two heavily shaded face shields, Teddy continued stepping back until he hand Rhys on and placed the other over his face.</p><p>Muffled by the metal mask, Rhys yelled with his own wand raised again, "Protego Totallum. No offense, Ted."</p><p>Teddy smiled under his polarized face shield, "At this point, I'd be offended if you didn't." Slowly twisting his wand, Ted slowly undid the thin string tied at the top of the pouch and slowly unraveled its contents. Hovering within a magical, nearly translucent forcefield half a meter above the cauldron, a black rock with dark green specks the size of a dime slowly rotated counter-clockwise. Rhys took a curious step forward but Teddy launched a hand out to stop him, "That… That is not something you want to be around without the ward around it. Not. at. all. Bad times for everyone. I'm surprised Slughorn even had one. And he has two, which makes it even stranger."</p><p>Rhys took a step back, his wand raised even higher, and questioned, "Then why are you putting in a potion, inside a room no one else knows we're in, INSIDE A SCHOOL! Ted?"</p><p>Teddy sighed and replied after a few moments of hesitation, "It brings me one step closer, Rhys. I've got the bug again…"</p><p>Rhys Gwyn rolled his eyes and took off his face shield to stare at Teddy Lupin, "You gave me shit for a whole year about Oapley not being time-traveller… A YEAR… Only one person has done it Ted and it ai…"</p><p>Teddy, his eyes still concentrated on the magically shielded rock floating in the air, grunted, "This isn't the same and you know it. It has been done. Proven by wizarding community. By Flamel. By Professor Dumbledore himself. I'm not saying I'm ever going to do it, Rhys. But there is just… so much…"</p><p>Rhys cut him off, "Then do it after we graduate, Ted. Use a proper lab, not this one we can't control. Not inside a school where you're using something you're so afraid of that you held me back from getting within a meter of it. Think about why Slughorn probably had it hidden. Think of how others would use it, not just yourself. The ministry BURIED the recipe, Ted. They didn't 86 it. They might as well have wiped it from our very memory, it's so well hidden. Is it worth the risk?"</p><p>Teddy, struggling to keep his hand steady, mumbles just loud enough to hear, "Yes… I… Yes. Put your shield back on. I don't want the reaction to blind you." After watching his friend put his face shield back on and take another step back, Ted took a deep breath and magically lowered the rock until it was just visible over the cauldron. "Count of three, you turn away and close your eyes and ears, alright? Ready… 1… 2… 3." Ted released his Levitation charm and the rock fell with a soft splash into the mixture. Both he and Rhys turned away as a white light brighter than looking at the sun through a telescope engulfed the room for a fraction of a second. Even through the polarizing shield on his mask and his closed eyes, it still hurt him… And there was more…</p><p>Teddy tapped on Rhys nearly a minute after the flash and asked, "Did you see…"</p><p>Rhys nodded, "It was fast, too fast, but it was like I saw every color at once, Ted. We're not dead, right? No extra limbs or anything?"</p><p>Teddy resisted the urge to use his abilities as a metamorphmagus and instead shook his head, took off his face shield, and slowly made his way over to the lightly simmering, faintly glowing cauldron. Rhys joined him and after nodding to each other at the same time, they both peered over the top of the cauldron. Rhys sniffed and cocked his head. Teddy sniffed as well and did the same. Rhys used his hand to waft the bare steam of the potion into his face and cocked his head even further. "Ted…I…Ok, the normal potion has a smell, right?"</p><p>Ted took a step back and gathered up the 3 books he used to accurately make the base potion. "Yeah, the Oculus Potion… orange in color yet smells like lemons. Borage's first edition made that joke in the margins. And this potion…"</p><p>Rhys looked back into the potion, wafted it one more time. "Yeah… No… She's clear… and she's odorless. I…This isn't how you make…"</p><p>Teddy searched through one his books and points down, "Nope… Jigger's ingredients aren't even on this table… And you saw me do all of this in one day, not 28…I mean, should I test it?" Teddy looked around for a moment before tearing a piece of parchment out of one of the many scattered notebooks on their table.</p><p>Before Teddy could drop it in, Rhys grabbed him by the wrist and with a sever look on his face, cautioned, "Ted…Do we know of any… and I mean ANY… potions that react to the preservatives on parchment? Or to parchment itself? To organic matter, in a combustive way?"</p><p>Teddy sighed and answered, "None with these characteristics. This is the safest way to test this… at least within our circumstances. I don't know what this place will do if we leave and someone else comes in for a different reason. We have to either test it, or find a way to vanish it, Rhys." And he dropped the piece.</p><p>Teddy's hair turned black the moment the parchment piece touched the clear potion. It didn't burn. Or Corrode or decompose. Combust. Rhys said it first, "It's…Why is the parchment just soaking it in like it's water. Please tell me we didn't just waste 20 galleons worth of ingredients and risked you being expelled for theft to find out how to make water. Ted…I swear if this is…"</p><p>Teddy shook his head slowly and without warning, dunked his entire hand in it, much to Rhys's momentary horror. But to Teddy's raging disappointment, it felt like water. Like the same water he swam in with his father the morning before started his 5th year at Hogwarts not 2 days ago. He needed to know… He grabbed another cauldron and using his other hand, grabbed his wand and cast, "Aguamenti," into the cauldron. Water poured in and he stuck his wand hand into this cauldron as well.</p><p>Rhys's lips straightened as he half-heartedly inquired, "We made water, didn't we? Is it at least saline, or something useful?"</p><p>Teddy brought both hands out of the cauldrons, and shook them off before vanishing the control water and cauldron. He then turned his wand on his experimental cauldron and paused. He had one more idea. Maybe if he used the original potion as intended… "Room, may I have a dripper vial please. And a cauldron of general antidote if you can. Rhys, be ready at the door in case this isn't just water." With a soft pop, another cauldron appeared on the table along with three eye-droppers.</p><p>Rhys patted Teddy twice on the shoulder before moving to the exit of the relatively dark room with his wand at the ready. "Please, this isn't the time for a joke either, Ted. I mean it. Do not use your shape-change nonsense this time just screw with my head."</p><p>Teddy nodded as he extracted a full vial of the unknown concoction and readied over his eye, he noted, "We're too deep in for goofs, Rhys," and dripped a single droplet into his left eye. He didn't even have to blink before it took effect. One side of his vision went completely dark and he dropped the vial to the floor. He waved his hands across that side of his face once, twice, three times and he didn't even see a fingernail, despite being underneath a heavy light. When he lowered his hand, however, the room nearly blinded him. Through just his left eye, Teddy Lupin could now see what looked like colored runes illuminated all around the room. On his wand. On the cauldron. The potion. Anything he knew to be even remotely associated with magic glowed neon in a language he had never seen before and in polygonal formations too complex for him to understand. He continued spinning, tears forming under his eyes, until he looked at Rhys, seeing the glyphs on his wand despite the darkness enveloping the boy near the door.</p><p>Rhys's voice trembled, "Please tell me you didn't find an alternate recipe for the Hate Potion and are now contemplating the best way to turn me into a 6 course meal. Because as much as my father hates me, I don't think he'd like seeing photos of my toes being eaten as blood pudding. Ted… Teddy…"</p><p>Teddy stepped forward, tears dripping from both eyes and off his chin, and dropped his wand. "Rhys… I can see it all. It's…I can't… Rhys, this…I don't think anyone's done this before. At least not in a potion. It's not in the books. Rhys… What do you think magic looks like? Like, at its core?"</p><p>Rhys stepped forward, wand hand trembling, and replied, "Ted, it's just a hallucination. You can't put a spell in…"</p><p>Ted waved him off as he continued forward and wiped his eyes, "Rhys, you don't understand. This room… I wonder if the whole castle is like this. I have to… Wait… Rhys, cast a spell really quick. Doesn't matter which…"</p><p>Rhys sighed, "What… Okay, fine. I'll humor your trip. Levicorpus!"</p><p>Teddy watched in awe as he saw the spell's glyphs, all in light green neon, form around and then focus at the end of Rhys's wand before appearing at his ankle. He felt a jerking, rope-like tug from the glyph and suddenly he found himself suspended in midair. He looked up and saw the same, completed glyph he saw attach to his ankle now hold him upside down. Ted laughed maniacally, "RHYS! Oh man, we have to take this to McGonagall. Do you think Slug… Why are you looking at me like that?"</p><p>Rhys's expression screamed doubt and disappointment. He dispelled the curse and after Teddy collected himself with a wild grin, he commanded, "I'm taking you to pomfrey. I'll apologize to her and Slughorn for letting you keep going. We'll both get the detentions and I hope that after she ends your trip, you can tell me what happened for real. Let's go. And Try to hide that dumb smile, I'd rather not face the rumor mill until after we're punished." Teddy's face dropped as he complied, grabbing both his and Rhys's bags off the cushions near the middle of the room and followed him out.</p><p>As they exited, Rhys stopped Teddy with a soft hand to his chest and began untying the Hufflepuff tie around his neck. Meanwhile, Teddy looked around in drooling awe at the near-blinding strength of the many magical glyphs surrounding the hallway of the 7th floor corridor. As Rhys wrapped the tie around Teddy's forehead and positioned it to cover the boy's left eye, he asked, "Close your eyes for a second… Okay, now open. How's this, Ted? Can you still see them?"</p><p>Teddy did so and felt a pit open in his stomach as he looked around and the glyphs were gone. He nodded. When Rhys turned his back and continued leading him towards the Hospital Wing, Teddy briefly lifted the tie to see the numerous, repeating magical glyphs on the stone floors of the corridor. Every so often as they continued, he did so again and again to confirm a suspicion. Just before they stepped inside the bottom floor entrance to the Hospital Tower, Teddy grabbed Rhys by the wrist, "Rhys, the glyphs repeat. I don't mean they flash or they change and come back. I mean this school, if what I'm seeing is right, has some insane magical protection. I don't think this is a hallucination. And I was only giddy because of the novelty of it. I swear…"</p><p>Without turning around, Rhys opened the door and said as he began his ascension, "We don't know if that stone has worse side effects. Or latent ones that don't show their teeth for 10 years. Many muggle diseases have shown to hide for years before their healers can detect it, their meager understanding of the world notwithstanding. Pomfrey will know what to do. Are you coming?"</p><p>Teddy snuck one more peek, this time looking up the tower in awe. He noticed a recurring set of symbols and chaotic line work on every other step he could see, all a faint ocean blue with slightly brighter red lines. He looked back and saw a group of girls he didn't know sitting around another girl who was forming a spell as she twisted her wand around piece of parchment. As gold and silver symbols and polygons wound their way up her wand, the parchment folded itself first into a polygonal flowerpot. Watching a bead of sweat form on her brow, Teddy smiled as he watched her grow a parchment, angular flower whose petals unfolded like the wings of a paper crane. Teddy mumbled to no one, "Don't make me let this go."</p><p>Rhys took his first step back off the spiral staircase and looked in the same direction as Teddy, only to smile himself and lean on him with his forearm on Teddy's shoulder. He whispered, "Sometimes I forget how boring muggles must have it, mate. And I can only imagine how you must have it now. But we've gotta see Pomfrey, or my guilt will never end." Teddy's smile dropped as he pulled the tie back down over his eye, turned with a nod to Rhys, and led the way up the spiral staircase to the Hospital Wing on its first floor up.</p><p>Madame Pomfrey didn't notice them for a few minutes as she helped ties the tie of a Gryffindor boy being released. When she finally did notice them, she scoffed, "What is it this time, Lupin?"</p><p>Teddy pulled loose the tie around his head and joked, "What happened to the lovely, motherly matron who greeted me with a hug on my first day?"</p><p>Flicking her wand a few times to set the released Gryffindor boys sheets to lift off the bed and fold themselves midair, Pomfrey chortled, "That boy didn't come to me for six consecutive days at the end of the previous term with progressively worse fits of coughing and flaky skin all over his hands. Experimenting with doxycide…truly marvelous. Singlehandedly emptying my stores over the course of a term will not get your name on a plaque in the trophy room. And I fault you as well for not teaching this boy some sense, Mr. Gynn."</p><p>Rhys put his arm around Teddy and smirked, "Who do you think keeps him alive long enough to get here? I'm just his body's courier at this point."</p><p>Pomfrey held out a medium sized wicker basket and the self-folding linens floated gently inside it and she set it back down towards the back of the large room. "I don't see any outward symptoms, which is a nice change, to be sure. Is the problem mental this time? I don't see any drool, so we that gives me hope."</p><p>Teddy stepped forward with pride, "I modified the recipe for the Oculus potion."</p><p>Pomfrey stopped short, her lips and eyebrows furrowed, "You… my boy… not one of those components is stable in any other…How has it affected you… We must purge your system immediately." Teddy's jaw visibly dropped as he saw a whirlwind of colors, symbols, and geometry expel from Pomfrey's wand as she waved it around, summoning various buckets, vials, beakers, and other medical supplies.</p><p>Rhys stepped forward and added, "Madame, it may not be an… overtly destructive process or side effect he is experiencing. But the chief among them…"</p><p>Teddy, doing everything he could to keep up and comprehend at least one part of the spells the school nurse was casting, blurted out, "I can see spells."</p><p>"As in the more powerful Aparecium spell? I assure you, no student at this school has the capa… Please stop staring at my wandwork and explain yourself before I call your head of house!" Madame Pomfrey snapped.</p><p>Teddy covered his left eye so he could focus and repeated, "I. Can. See. Magic. Yes, like the most powerful application of the Aparecium spell. When you just did… whatever that was to bring all of this…" He gestured to the hospital bed now neatly organized yet completely covered in supplies. "I could see it all. Every color, shape, and symbol of the magic you just cast. The magic of this room. The magic of the Room of Requirement where I made the potion. The different protections in every part of the school. I can see them all, madame."</p><p>Madame Pomfrey narrowed her eyes and inquired, "So, if I do this…" She performed two quick flicks of her wand but aside from the magic he already saw pulsing like a heartbeat from the wand, there was no other reaction. "…What do you see?"</p><p>Teddy sat down on a nearby bed and stated, "You didn't cast a single spell, but your wand has a pleasant glow and pulse to it. What is it's core, if you don't mind my…"</p><p>Pomfrey cut him off and narrowed her eyes further, "And now?" Watched as a flood of red and purple light started at the tips of her fingers, went into her wand, and came out as a slowly flapping butterfly covered in sigils and colors making it all the more beautiful.</p><p>Teddy moved forward and as he held out his cupped palms for the butterfly to land in, he looked down at it and muttered, "It started in the tips of your fingers, where you grip your wand the hardest, madame. Red and purple, I don't know the symbols but I think one of them means conjuration or possibly…" Teddy smiled even wider as he noted the lack of even the barest weight from the butterfly or the absence of any tiny gusts coming from its flapping wings. "…Illusion. This…With magic, can you do this too?"</p><p>Madame Pomfrey stepped over and sat down as well, closing his hands and dispelling the illusory butterfly at the same time, "No… And though I know not the methods by which you came by this ability without the necessary incantation or… apologies, my boy… abilities… This is already dangerous. I…"</p><p>A rough cough and wet hiccup alerted everyone in the room to a sharply, if too tightly, suited Professor Slughorn, who frowned and patted his sweating forehead. "What's the boy taken from my stores this time, Poppy? The boy is lucky his father is…" Slughorn saw the grave look on the school nurse's face and his frown disappeared into a more somber line. "…Or am I mistaken? Is the boy… Is it… I came as fast…"</p><p>Poppy, who took the momentary distraction to subtly flash a finger to her closed lips before replying, "Nothing so grave, thank you Horace. I believe the boy can better explain his actions, for I am still unsure of the proper course. If you please, Mr. Lupin?"</p><p>Teddy obeyed and with the help of Rhys chiming in every now and again when he strayed too far from the explanation, outlined exactly how he modified the Oculus Potion, and the initial fears of failure due to the chemical characteristics of the resulting potion. When Teddy reached the part about using a gaggle of 3rd year girls to distract Professor Slughorn so he could sneak into his office, the potions master huffed and puffed, angrily grunting about privacy, nerve, and the wrong, absolutely preposterous assumption that he was in any way attracted to younger women. Rhys held back a giggle but the moment Teddy gave the description of the stone, Slughorn stood up immediately and paced the room. Neither Rhys nor Teddy, nor Madame Pomfrey it seemed by her worried facial expression, had witnessed Slughorn take even a moment to stop and think to himself. Least of all pace around.</p><p>When the Professor Slughorn returned, the bed creaking slightly as he sat down, he sighed deep, "So… This last ingredient, most important to acquire these desired… ahem… 'scuse me, the stairs… ahem… the effects you desired. I assume you wanted to see if you could permanently restore eyesight through these methods? Hmmmmm, young Theodore?"</p><p>Teddy sat up a little, "I pref… nevermind. Yes, I wanted to see if the same active component to many everlasting elixirs could be applied directly to the Oculus. If not for the ward you placed around the stone, I would have controlled for por…"</p><p>Slughorn stood up again and mumbled, "Control for.. used the entire… 2000 galleons, my lord…" He straightened his too-tight trousers and ruffled his walrus-like mustache twice and continued louder but not enough for it to echo through the room, "You… you used the entire stone? Mister Lupin, I do believe one of the first lessons I taught you as a first year was the absolute, unequivocal necessity for precision in potion making. You are… My boy… You are lucky to be alive. Why else do you think I had that stone warded, concealed, and kept away from other possible ingredients it…Everlasting elixirs are not rare, even amongst the most talented potioneers, because of the skill required. No, boy. They are rare because that stone… We use fragments, even just the dust of one to achieve our ends. Dust, my dear boy. Do you even…"</p><p>Hearing Slughorn's voice raise, Madame Pomfrey waved him down and softly said, "I think they both recognize their errors… most especially young Mr. Lupin. Unless you wish to either help or provide a pleasant story of your betters and their feats of grander to keep his mind preoccupied, please leave us so I may assist this boy in vacating the remaining potion." Professor Slughorn huffed and puffed his way from his seat and left without another word. When they heard him slam the door to the tower shut below, the nurse continued, summoning the bucket from the bed behind Teddy and landing it in the lap of Rhys, "You are a friend, yes? Time to prove that. You will hold him over the bucket, his hair out of his face. Or you will be the… catalyst, for lack of proper words. Choose."</p><p>Teddy stammered in protest but Rhys got down on the floor with the bucket and said, "It won't be the worst of his messes I've cleaned up. Also curious how his hair will change when sick. Ted, if you please?"</p><p>Rhys patted the marble floor in front of the bucket and Teddy, sighing as he slid off the bed and kneeled looked to Madame Pomfrey, "I've never forced it out, do you have any thing to help?"</p><p>Madame Pomfrey answered by handing him a small vial containing a vile smelling yellow sludge. "Bottoms up, my dear. I'm afraid the solution may taste worse than the aftermath. The pain… more equal, unfortunately. Here."</p><p>Teddy slowly grabbed the vial held it in his hands for a few moments. He looked down at the bucket. Up to Rhys, smirked, "Thanks, Rhys," and downed the vial in one gulp. To immediate effect.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: Hello there, reader. Some notes to keep in mind for this fic moving forward:</p><p>1) I have not, nor do I plan to read, any fanfiction already written about Teddy Lupin or the rest of the Next Generation. I have nothing against those stories, which is obvious because I am writing one of my own, but most just aren't my cup of tea. Which is fine. In turn, mine not be yours either. Which is also fine. This story is more of an examination of family, loss, and the secrets we keep to "save" each other than it is about teens being teens in the wizarding world.</p><p>2) Apart from Remus Lupin surviving the Battle of Hogwarts, I have committed to staying as close to the known canon as possible. I have based the entire logic of this story, and its deviations from the canon, purely on one alteration, "What if Remus had survived to raise Teddy?" and went from there. Remus was and still is my favorite character in the entire Harry Potter series and I AM STILL MAD ROWLING KILLED HIM. AND HOW DIRTY THEY DID HIM IN THE MOVIES. GIVE. ME. THAT. SCENE. AT. GRIMMUALD PLACE. DAMN. YOU. I apologize, it still hurts me inside knowing they took, quite literally, the best scene in the books out of the movie.</p><p>3) If you are prone to adverse reactions to reading about trauma, loss, and anxiety, this story might not be for you. I don't shy away from emotional moments in my writing. If you've read my other story, The Boy He Failed, you know that I thrive in it. As someone with a long history of mental health issues, writing characters that work through their own is how I deal with my own. If, like me, you can power through and continue reading, I'll do my best to keep you interested. I think I'm onto something with this one.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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